Yes, plain water is all I've ever used. If soda is built up in tight areas rinse with a pressure washer. Adding vinegar to the first washing really has no benefit. If you towel dry after you rinse, you will see the difference. The only time I have used vinegar is on thick runs that have air dried. This basically breaks down the build up. Adding soap will only break down the buffer agent in the soda that help protects the metal.

Thanks for the info. Should you prime the metal as soon as you wash it?
When I had my truck soda blasted they didn't tell me the length of protection was about 6 months so I have some rust areas appearing.
I have painted a few pieces with Air Color water based paint and have not had any problems yet.
Thanks again.
derald

41,
Anytime you wash metal it should be dried right away and not a bad idea to take a blower to it but let it set at least 30 minutes before coating to be sure it is totally dry.
Also at this point I would run over the metal real quick with a DA and 80 grit just to make sure all film is gone.

There should be no reason to prime immediately if the body is kept dry. If your are in and area with high humidity or the body is subject to any type of moisture it will flash rust earlier.

Here is an example: Say you had a hood blasted and it was properly rinsed, then towel dried. Then you put it in your garage. A month later you decide to open your garage door and leave it open all day and the humidity is high. The moisture in the air will land on the metal and generate flash rusting.

If the hood was kept in a climate controlled area such as room in your house or dry storage not subject to any type of weather, I've personally had pieces go longer than a year without any flash rust appearing before I decided to prime.

Also be aware that just because it's sunny outside, there is still humidity in the air. Such as morning dew on the ground. As the suns heat drys the ground the moisture rises as it evaporates.

I know people can't stick a car in their living room, don't get me wrong. But, if you pay attention to the moisture issues 6 months should be a minimum.

Did you use epoxy primer to the bare metal before your paint? If you did, you should be fine.

Register Now

In order to be able to post messages on the Hot Rod Forum : Hotrodders Bulletin Board forums, you must first register.
Please enter your desired user name (usually not your first and last name), your email address and other required details in the form below.

User Name:

Password

Please enter a password for your user account. Note that passwords are case-sensitive.

Password:

Confirm Password:

Email Address

Please enter a valid email address for yourself.

Email Address:

Insurance

Please select your insurance company (Optional)

Log-in

User Name

Remember Me?

Password

Human Verification

In order to verify that you are a human and not a spam bot, please enter the answer into the following box below based on the instructions contained in the graphic.